Zinio Guest Post: Indy 500 Season: Discover The Cars And the People Inside Them

It is among the world’s oldest auto races and one of the most popular spectator sports. The Indy 500, set for Memorial Day, is the foundation of America’s romance with cars, covered with command, color and expertise in digital publishing. Beyond the history of the race and the storied track, the Indy 500 has its share of legendary people, cars, and character. Get excited now with exclusive free access to the top five articles covering the Indy 500 (compliments of Zinio).

Autoweek is racing’s bible. It has the crisp photography and seasoned writing that picks up as the season does. This article is from the magazine’s peek at the upcoming Indy car racing season, complete with the competition off the track for teams, drivers and technology.

Autosport takes a more international view. This article on the upcoming Formula 1 season has brilliant photography and a thorough look at how rules changes will redefine the sport. The writing is unique. Take this sentence from an Australian race: “Kimi Raikkonen, the victor, had clinically and unemotionally used the only car that seemed immune to the spectacular tyre graining that was the bane of everyone else's weekend.”

Dan Weldon was one of those race drivers that lived as fast as he drove. This piece from Men’s Journal says “Wheldon was the greatest thing to happen to Indy racing since Mario Andretti and A.J. Foyt dominated the sport in the 1960s, when the Indianapolis 500 was on par with single-day events like the Super Bowl and Evel Knievel’s rocket-powered canyon jump. But a bitter split in 1996 destroyed the league, and though it had essentially reconstituted by 2002, the organization struggled to find an audience. To attract sponsors and fans, they needed star power.”

Indianapolis Monthly is one of the best regional digital magazines. This profile of Indy driver J.R. Hildebrand is well-written and puts a human face on a dangerous sport. “Hildebrand has a boyish sensibility. His wiry six-foot frame slips easily into the National Guard car, yet when he takes off the helmet and fire-retardant hood, his mop of dark brown hair falls into its disheveled place, making him look like a grown-up Justin Bieber. Sometimes, as he talks, he twirls a strand around his finger, like a high school senior hunched over a calculus test. And while his Panther Racing predecessor, Dan Wheldon, was known for his persnickety clean-freak streak, colleagues say Hildebrand is more likely to leave a half-eaten sandwich and empty soda can around the garage. “JR is a very mature 24-year-old, and he puts up a very good front,” says his mother, Maria Hildebrand. “But really, he’s still just a 24-year-old guy, and with that comes a sense of invincibility, and a lot of growing up that you still have to do.”

Karbon is one of those magazines that is built for mobile devices and it is the kind of content you can explore on Zinio. Karbon bills itself as the Worlds Only Dedicated Magazine for Indy Cars & Indy Lights. Bringing the Glitz and Glamour back to Indy Cars. This piece on Sarah Hartmann Fischer shows life beyond Danica.

Racecar Engineering isn’t just for gearheads. It’s for gearheads that have PhDs. The level of detail about engines, future technology and other things under the hood is stunning. Check this sentence: “This so called ‘mother chassis’ concept has since been adopted in GT300 and in more extreme form in GT500 & DTM. Dome’s tub used a innovative single skin with no honeycomb construction technique first used in aviation. This meant that the costs were really quite low. Compared to the aluminium monocoques used at the time in Japanese the new tub was the same weight (48kg), stiffer and crucially it was cheaper (1.2 million yen compared to 1.35 million for the aluminium tub).”